Hangman: A Novel

Hangman, Hangman, what do you see? Four little girls, as cute as can be. The eerie schoolyard chant still sends ripples of horror through North Buffalo. Not so long ago, serial killer Marcus Flynn preyed upon the community’s teenaged daughters - until he was cornered and shot in the head. But Flynn lived, carrying to prison the nickname "Hangman", along with the secret of his last victim’s fate. Homicide cop Abbie Kearney wasn’t around during Hangman’s reign of terror. She hadn’t yet come home to wear her dad’s old badge in the tough Irish American stronghold known as "the County".

The Private Lives of the Tudors: Uncovering the Secrets of Britain's Greatest Dynasty

The Tudor monarchs were constantly surrounded by an army of attendants, courtiers and ministers. Even in their most private moments, they were accompanied by a servant specifically appointed for the task. A groom of the stool would stand patiently by as Henry VIII performed his daily purges, and when Elizabeth I retired for the evening, one of her female servants would sleep at the end of her bed. These attendants knew the truth behind the glamorous exterior.

The Cutting: A McCabe and Savage Thriller, Book 1

Detective Mike McCabe moved from a top homicide job with the NYPD to Portland, Maine, to leave his failed marriage and suspicions of wrongdoing behind, and to find a more peaceful life for himself and his 13-year-old daughter. But the small New England city is not nearly as safe as he thought. On a warm September night, a missing high school athlete is found dead in a scrap-metal yard, her heart removed from her body with surgical precision. As outrage over the killing spreads, a young businesswoman disappears while out on a morning jog.

The Trespasser: A Novel

Being on the murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point. Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner.

Home: Myron Bolitar Series, Book 11

A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent. No trace of the boys ever surfaced. For 10 years their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived: Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe they have located one of the boys, now a teenager. Where has he been for 10 years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken?

Ricki says:"I have so missed Myron and Win and now they are back. Yeah"

A King of Infinite Space

Long Beach, California homicide detective Danny Beckett is pouring the weekend's first shot of vodka when the call comes in: Elizabeth Williams, a teacher at nearby Warren High School, has been brutally murdered in her classroom. When Danny arrives at the school, the blood-spattered crime scene turns even his veteran stomach. What could this young woman have done to make her the target of such a violent attack?

Never Love a Stranger

Never Love a Stranger, still considered one of Robbins' most powerful books, tells the story of Francis "Frankie" Kane, an orphan growing up in the dirty world of New York's Hell's Kitchen. After being kicked out of a Catholic orphanage when it is discovered that he is of Jewish descent, a confused and deeply distraught Frankie turns to a life of crime, the only life he knows, and he's good at it.

The Academy: A Short Story

Quitting her job as a high school science teacher to join the Seattle Police Department was an easy decision for Tracy Crosswhite. Years earlier, what should have been one of the happiest days of her life instead became her worst nightmare when her younger sister, Sarah, disappeared. After the murder trial, while her family disintegrated, Tracy turned her heartbreak and her lingering questions into a passion for justice.

The Edge of Lost

On a cold night in October 1937, searchlights cut through the darkness around Alcatraz. A prison guard's only daughter - one of the youngest civilians who lives on the island - has gone missing. Tending the warden's greenhouse, convicted bank robber Tommy Capello waits anxiously. Only he knows the truth about the little girl's whereabouts and that both of their lives depend on the search's outcome.

A Field of Red

Ex-cop Frank Harper doesn't want to get involved. Harper is visiting the small Ohio town of Cooper's Mill, trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter and a grandson he's never met. But he finds the town gripped in fear - two young girls have gone missing, taken in broad daylight from a busy street. And the police are coming up blank. But once Harper is drawn reluctantly into the investigation, he'll stop at nothing to find the girls. And he doesn't care who gets in the way.

Fortune Hunter

Someone has created a fake social media identity and is online romancing the lonely women of Sinful in order to scam them out of money. Because he always seems to pick the perfect targets, Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie think he must be either a Sinful resident or someone with a close association to the town.

Dead Irish: A Dismas Hardy Novel

In his new life as a bartender at the Little Shamrock, Dismas Hardy is just hoping for a little peace. He's left both the police force and his law career behind. Unfortunately it's not as easy to leave behind the memory of a shattering personal loss - but for the time being, he can always take the edge off with a stiff drink and a round of darts.

As Time Goes By

Television journalist Delaney Wright is on the brink of stardom after she begins covering a sensational murder trial for the six p.m. news. She should be thrilled, yet her growing desire to locate her birth mother consumes her thoughts. When Delaney's friends - Alvirah Meehan and her husband, Willy - offer to look into the mystery surrounding her birth, they uncover a shocking secret they do not want to reveal.

Outfoxed: An Andy Carpenter Mystery

Defense lawyer Andy Carpenter spends as much time as he can working on his true passion - the Tara Foundation, the dog rescue organization he runs. Lately Andy has been especially involved in a county prison program where inmates help train dogs the Tara Foundation has rescued to make them more adoptable, benefiting both the dogs and the prisoners. One of the prisoners Andy has been working with is Brian Atkins, who has 18 months left on a five-year term for fraud.

Most Wanted

Christine Nilsson and her husband, Marcus, are desperate for a baby. Unable to conceive, they find themselves facing a difficult choice they had never anticipated. After many appointments with specialists, endless research, and countless conversations, they make the decision to use a donor.

Rum Runner - A Thriller: Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Mysteries, Book 9

Twenty years ago a young cop named Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels arrested one of the most sadistic killers she'd ever encountered. She has since retired from the Chicago Police Department in order to raise her toddler daughter. But old grudges never die. They fester until the right opportunity comes along. While on vacation in the Wisconsin North Woods, Jack learns - too late - that her old adversary is out of prison. He has revenge on his mind. And he's bringing an army with him.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos: A Novel

In 1631, Sara de Vos is admitted as a master painter to the Guild of St. Luke's in Holland, the first woman to be so recognized. Three hundred years later, only one work attributed to de Vos is known to remain - a haunting winter scene, At the Edge of a Wood, which hangs over the bed of a wealthy descendant of the original owner. An Australian grad student, Ellie Shipley, struggling to stay afloat in New York, agrees to paint a forgery of the landscape, a decision that will haunt her.

Take Down

There are hundreds of casinos in Las Vegas, and Billy Cunningham knows how to rip off every one. His scams are a thing of beauty - so perfectly orchestrated that onlookers believe he and his crew are winning fair and square. In a town where bosses will kill to protect their profits, Billy can't afford to make mistakes, but even the best-laid plans can go wrong...

Dead Connection

Homicide detective Flann McIlroy is convinced that someone is using the lure of the internet and the promise of love to launch a killing spree against the women of New York City. To catch the killer, he calls up Detective Ellie Hatcher. She must enter a high-tech world where no one is who they appear to be. When the FirstDate killer begins to mimic the monster who destroyed her father, Ellie knows the game has become personal for him.

Jewels of the Sun: Irish Jewels Trilogy, Book 1

Determined to reevaluate her life, Jude Murray flees America to take refuge in Faerie Hill Cottage, where she immerses herself in the study of Irish Folklore and discovers hope for the future in the magic of the past.

Dark of the Moon

Virgil Flowers kicked around for a while before joining the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. First it was the army and the military police, then the police in St. Paul, and finally Lucas Davenport brought him into the BCA, promising him, "We'll only give you the hard stuff." He's been doing the hard stuff for three years now, but never anything like this.

Huntress Moon

FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust of a major criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses an undercover member of his team killed right in front of him on a busy street, an accident Roarke can't believe is coincidental. His suspicions put him on the trail of a mysterious young woman who appears to have been present at each scene of a years-long string of accidents and murders, and who may well be that most rare of killers: a female serial.

The Pickwick Papers

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (commonly known as The Pickwick Papers) is the first novel by Charles Dickens. The book became the first real publishing phenomenon, with bootleg copies, theatrical performances, Sam Weller joke books and other merchandise.

The Cold, Cold Ground

Adrian McKinty was born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He studied politics and philosophy at Oxford before moving to America in the early 1990s. Living first in Harlem, he found employment as a construction worker, barman, and bookstore clerk. In 2000 he moved to Denver to become a high school English teacher and it was there that he began writing fiction.

Publisher's Summary

In this explosive debut thriller by the New York Times best-selling author of Empire of Blue Water, a brilliant homicide detective returns home, where she confronts a city’s dark demons and her own past while pursuing a brutal serial killer on a vengeful rampage.

Absalom “Abbie” Kearney grew up an outsider in her own hometown. Even being the adopted daughter of a revered cop couldn’t keep Abbie’s troubled past from making her a misfit in the working-class Irish American enclave of South Buffalo. And now, despite a Harvard degree and a police detective’s badge, she still struggles to earn the respect and trust of those she’s sworn to protect. But all that may change, once the killing starts.

When Jimmy Ryan’s mangled corpse is found in a local church basement, this sadistic sacrilege sends a bone-deep chill through the winter-whipped city. It also seems to send a message - one that Abbie believes only the fiercely secretive citizens of the neighborhood known as “the County” understand. But in a town ruled by an old-world code of silence and secrecy, her search for answers is stonewalled at every turn, even by fellow cops. Only when Abbie finds a lead at the Gaelic Club, where war stories, gossip, and confidences flow as freely as the drink, do tongues begin to wag - with desperate warnings and dire threats. And when the killer’s mysterious calling card appears on her own doorstep, the hunt takes a shocking twist into her own family’s past. As the grisly murders and grim revelations multiply, Abbie wages a chilling battle of wits with a maniac who sees into her soul, and she swears to expose the County’s hidden history - one bloody body at a time.

With Black Irish, Stephen Talty stakes a place beside Jo Nesbø, John Sandford, and Tana French on the cutting edge of psychological crime thrillers.

What the Critics Say

“A memorable story of betrayal and vengeance.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Abbie Kearney is one of the most intriguing new suspense protagonists in memory, and Black Irish marks the captivating start of a brilliant thriller series.”(Tess Gerritsen, New York Times best-selling author of Last to Die)

Where does Black Irish rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is my first audible book so it ranks fairly high. But it was a good first selection and now I'm hooked!

What did you like best about this story?

The author left little clues all through the story so it feels like the reader is solving the mystery along with the main character Absalom. The characters were interesting and the back drop of the collapse of Buffalo and the rust belt made the story seem real and alive.

What about David H. Lawrence XVII’s performance did you like?

I liked that even though the main character was a women it never felt like David H. Lawrence was over reaching.

This was a can't put it down read. Great writing, great performance, and a real whodunnit. The author kept it clean and tight throughout, but the ending is a bit convoluted. I usually don't like an author having to summarize the action at the end but it was helpful in this instance. So much story! There was a lot of beautiful writing and original and creative metaphors as well.

I won't summarize the story since the Publisher Summary does that, but I will say Talty has written a humdinger.

I want to say something about narrators. Though the main character is female, David Lawrence XVII was perfect. I find that men can do women characters much better than women can do male characters. I just finished Did You Miss Me by Karen Rose. The female narrator was awful with male characters of which there were many. I almost decided to return it and buy it on Kindle. Authors...the right narrator can make or break a book.

Anyway, I can't wait to read Talty's next, and I hope Absalom has her own series.

Certainly, to someone from Buffalo or someone with a love for cities. Talty captured the "feel" of the city but some of the plot, particularly the ending, felt a bit contrived. I hope that Talty will continue this as a series, I look forward to learning more about Buffalo and Abby.